Envelope-making machine



f Nov. 28, 1939.

V A. NOVICK ENVELOPE-MAKING MACHINE Original Filed Dec. '7, 1934 INVENTOR Abra/7am No v/c/r BY ATTORNEYS PatentedNov. 28, n I p I v o .UNl-TED- STATES fPATls-Nr r ce 1 o n v y 1 :z,1s1,5'1s

ENvELoriij-MAKi M NE I n I Abraham Novick, Flushing, N. .Y., assignor'tu F. L. Smithe Machine co. Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation-of New York Original application December 7, 1934, Serial No.

756,464. Divided and this application April 16, 1938, Serial No. 22,02,391, 6 Claims. '(Cl. 93--62) v The present invention relates to envelope- 'der, so asto present the leading margin of the making machines and more particularly tomaleading blank in position to come within the range chines of the kind in which envelope blanks are of action of the suction means. removed individually from a stack, arranged in The blank transfer mechanism referred to is, i '5 fanned out relation, 'gummed and then tran's- I as stated, of special utility in connection with ferred to a drier, gummed window blanks and in connection with The invention has to do primarily with the the] spacing of th'e'b lanks relative to one another transfer of fanned-out window blanks from a in'thecourseoftransferQbutthe same mechafan-out gummer toa fan-out drying conveyor nism may;be used without alteration in con- 10 which runs at a somewhat higherspeed than the nection with whole, blanks; in connection with 10 fan-out gummer. The reason for causing the a transfer which does not involve spacing of the drying conveyor to travel at a higher'speed than blanks, or in connectionwith ungummed blanks.

the fan-out gummer is that it is desirable to "Otherobjects and advantages will hereinafter space the gummed areas of the successiveblanks appear. U r from one another'to a slight extent, so that'th T 'p t app ion s a div i n of my 16 blanks, when dry, will not tend to adhere to p n n pp Serial 6 fi one another. Such spacing of the blanks necescember '7, 1934, f r v p making machines, sarily involves relative movement of the blanks ew U- -P 2, to which referaiter they have been gummed and as they are mice may be had for a disclosure of parts of the 2 transferred to the drying conveyor. 'I'hisrelamec inenot lust at d e e 20 x tive movement of window blanks has a tendency The acco p y drawihg'ilhlstretes One emto cause the trailing edge of one window opening "bodiment of my'inven'tion. 1 It will he understood, to snag against the leading edge of an adjacent eWeV t v ri s Changes the. Specific window opening and thereby to interfere with the m ch nism d r d m y be made wi hout correct spacing of the blanks or to cause the pa f esp 0f y n and Ce 5 blanks to become mutilated or interlocked. I thin Parts Of the structure is may b The purpose of the present invention is topro -p 0yed without others. vide means for accomplishing the transfer from 1 1 iS e f e tary,verticalview, pa in the fan-out gum t the drying conveyor i section,- of an illustrative embodiment of the insuch amanner that this tendency toward inter t a d t o w 30 ference of the blanks with n an th r 15 Fig. 2 is a similar enlarged'detailed view of the pletely obviated, 1 Y I parts cooperating to transfer'the gummed blanks To this end it is a feature of the invention that to a V Y the blanks are delivered from the lower side of I the illustrated machine, W w v p a cylinder, which forms a part of the fan-out blanks a e takenksingly r a Stack d 35 v gummer, clear of-the cylinder and ina direction d in fanned-Out el to a Cylinder generally tangent to the cylinder, and that pro- Which forms an element, of a -Ou limm vision is made of suction means for holding the e y r, p ra with f rollers leading ends of the blanks up, away from the advances the fanned-out blanks past a-gum box 0 underlying conveyor. In conjunction with the which applies gum t0 the sealing fl ps 0f the 40 suction means, reciprocating blank-deflecting h t this vODeIntiO'II the Sealing fl p a means are provided, which move rearward into g s 0 wh the gum is pp are 1 0 6. at position to engage behind the trailing m rgin thetrailing ends of the blanks, and the disposiof a blank and then move forward to depress the tion of the blanks with relation to one another '45 trailing margin of the blank to the plane of the is uch t at't e giimmihg d v y app y the conveyor while the leading margin. of the'blank is gum 0 the-Outer e p d faces f the trailing still held up away from. the conveyor by the margins. I g suction means. i The feed rollers 82, together with additional A further feature of the invention has tofdo e rollers Cooperate W h the cylinder to 5 with the cooperation of the blank-deflecting guide and advance the'band of fanned-out blanks means and the suction means, whereby the blank- .end o d v the leading end of the band at deflecting means is caused to travelforward and the lower sideof the cylinder in a direction to to hold up the leading ends of all of the blanks extend'subst'antially tangent to the cylinder. The which have passed the cylinder but whose trail feed rollers 82 and 82a act upon side flap portions 5 ing edges have not yet moved clear of the cylinof the blanks. When the trailingedge of a blank 2 in the zone acted upon by the rollers 82a has moved clear of the roller 82a, that blank is then free of the cylinder, so that its trailing end canv be deposited upon a drying conveyor 84. The drying conveyor 8 is of the bicycle chain type, being composed of alternate wide links and narrow links. Each narrow link 88 carries a gripper plateor finger 83,-which extends in divergent relation to the preceding wide link 83a of the chain as it travels around an end sprocket 831),

The upper or active stretch of the drying conveyor chains (there being-two) travel in; guiding troughs 87, which are in the form 'of channel bars. The chains of the conveyor are driven at a somewhat higher speed than the cylinder 80, so as to cause the gummed areas of the delivered blanks to be spaced out a little from one another.

In order to avoid collision of the trailing edge of the window of a blank still under the control of the cylinder 88 with the leading edge of the window of a blank already under the control of the conveyor 84, means are provided for holding the leading ends of the blanks which have moved clear of the cylinder but whose trailing or body portions are still gripped to the cylinder Bil, away from contact with the blanks on the conveyor.

To this end, suction means in the form of a sucker tube 85 is provided, this tube being carried by a parallel link device 86, which is oscillated in time with the delivery of the blanks. The suckertie is movable toward the left to substantially the position illustrated in Fig. 1, and it is movable toward the right to substantially the position illustrated in Fig. 2. At its lefthand limit of movement the suction device engages the leading margin of the first blank, which is at that moment still under the control of the cylinder and the feed rollersBZa. As the engaged'blank travels forward, the, suction tube holds it up by its leading. marginand causes it in turn to support the leading margins, of the immediately following blank .or blanks. v

Blank-deflecting means comprising two daggers B9, are provided for cooperating with the suction device in the transfer. of the-blanks. When the suction tube is moved to its Fig. 1 position, the daggers 89 are inthe positions illus-' trated in Fig. 1. In this position they support the leading end of the foremost blank which is still under the control of the cylinder 88 and the rollers 82a, and hold it up so that the sucker can take control of the leadingmargin of the blank. During the further advance of the blank by the cylinder 82, the suction tube 85 travels forward with it, and the daggers are retracted to a position behind the rollers 82a. As the trailing edge of the blank whose leading margin is being held upby the sucker 85, moves clear of the rollers 82a, the daggers 85 are projected forward to the Fig. 1 position. In the course of this travel,-the daggers engage behind thetrailing portion of the blank which is being held by the sucker 85, and depress such trailing portion to the plane of the conveyor 84, and into position to be gripped by the gripper fingers 83 whichare ready to receive the blank. 1

As soon as the trailing edge of the blank has been depressed to the plane of the conveyor 34, the suction is out 01f from the sucker 85;, so that the leading end of, the: transferred blank is per mitted to fall by gravity onto the conveyor. The continued forward movement of the daggers causes them to be carried to the blank-supporting position illustrated in Fig. 1.

The daggers 89 are pivotally supported upon arms 90, and the arms 90 in turn are fixed to a rock-shaft 9|, which is oscillated in time with the other operating parts of the machine. Springs 92, connected to tail portions of the daggers 89 I and. to the arms 90, cause the points of the dagtwo-fold .function of lifting the leading end of theforemost blank into the field of action of the suction tube 85 and of thereafter depressing the trailingmargin of such blank to the plane of the conveyor while the leading margin of the blank remains, affixed by suction tov the suction tube 85. The suction tube 85 does not release the blank until the spring fingers 83 have closed upon the trailing margin of the blank or, in other words, until all bodily movement of the blank relative to the conveyor has ceased. There is no opportunity, therefore, for the window of the blank which is being deposited to interlock with the"window of a blank already affixed to the Y conveyor.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim: i

1. An envelope-making machine comprising, in combination, a cylinder and cooperating feeding means for advancing fanned-out blanks with the leading ends thereof extending clear of the cylinder at the lower side of the cylinder and in a direction generally tangent to the cylinder, afanout conveyor, means for transferring the blanks from the cylinder to the conveyor comprising a reciprocating sucker for engaging the upper leading margin of each blank and carrying it forward in a path clear of theconveyor, reciprocating blank-deflecting means, and means for advane-ing the blank-deflecting means in conformity with the contour of the cylinder to lift the lead ing margin of the leading blank into the field of action of the sucker and for then retracting the deflecting means to aposition to be cleared by the trailing edge of the leading blank after the sucker has taken control of the leading margin of the blank.

2. An envelope-making machine as set forth in claim 1, in which operating means forthe sucker is provided which is so timed with relation tothe movement of theblank-defiecting means that the sucker is caused to move rearward over the leading margin of the leading blank as the blank-deflecting means moves forward to its extreme forward position, and to move forward as the blank-deflecting means retreats.

3. An envelope-making machine as set forth in claim 1, in which the upper surface of theblankdeflecting means is recessed to enable the extreme or tip portion of the blank-deflecting means to bear continuously against the underface of V the cylinder.

1. An envelope-making machine as set forth in claim 1, in which the sucker retains control of the leading margin of the blank until the trailveyor, and reciprocable blank-deflecting 7 means ing margin of the blank has been discharged by the cylinder and the feeding means cooperative therewith, and has been depressed substantially to the plane of the conveyor by the blank-deflecting means.

5. An envelope-making machine comprising, in combination, a cylinder and cooperating feeding means for advancing fanned-out blanks with the leading ends thereof extending clear of the cylinder at the lower side of the cylinder and in a direction generally tangent to the cylinder, a fanout conveyor running beneath the cylinder, succylinder to hold the blanks away from the conoperable to engage behind the trailing margin of a blank and to depress it substantially to the plane of the conveyor while the leading margin of the same blank is held up by the suction means.

6. An envelope-making machine as set forth in claim 5, in which the leading blank is advanced while being held up by the suction means, and in which the suction means is caused to give up control of that blank when the trailing end thereof has been depressed substantially to the.

plane of the conveyor.

' ABRAHAM NOVICK. 

